Monday, September 2, 2013

Nelson Mandela has left hospital to return to his home in Johannesburg, in a critical condition, South African officials said on Sunday.

The 95-year-old anti-apartheid leader and former South African president has spent nearly three months in hospital for treatment of a recurring lung infection and has returned to his residence in Johannesburg where he will continue to recover.

A statement from the office of current South African president Jacob Zuma confirmed Mandela homecoming:

“His teams of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria.”

“His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there. The health care personal providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital.”

Several ambulances and TV crews gathered outside Mandela’s home in the Houghton suburb of Johannesburg on Sunday, where well-wishers gathered to pray for his recovery.

Mandela’s last public appearance was at the 2010 football World Cup, held in South Africa.

Saturday, December 17, 2005The leaders of the European Union have struck a deal on the 2007-2013 budget. Negotiations were characterized by host country’s Prime Minister Tony Blair as “extraordinarily complicated”.

The biggest issues were different views between France, the UK and rest of the EU. UK wanted to keep it’s high membership discount, negotiated before economic growth made it one of the richest members, while other members wanted it to participate with relatively equal net payment. France’s primary issue was maintaining farming subsidies. Rest of the Europe was mostly interested in modernizing European economy by decreasing both UK’s discounts and France’s subsidies. Germany appeared as a pulling force between France and UK to secure the deal.

France continues to receive it’s highly criticized subsidies. The UK gave up 10.5 billion euros in exchange for a review of farm subsidies in 2008-2009, but the net membership discount will actually increase. Small member states such as Sweden increased their role as largest net payers in relative to output.

Key features in the reached deal:

• Total budget will be 862.36 billion euros, equaling to 1.045% of the EU’s total GDP
• Development aid will be 157 billion euros
• Farm budget will be 293 billion euros

Most see the resulted budget as a poor comproromise, but necessarily for the state of union and financial planning in the new member states.

Friday, September 7, 2012

London, England — On Wednesday, Wikinews interviewed Duncan Campbell, one of the creators of wheelchair rugby.

((Laura Hale)) You’re Duncan Campbell, and you’re the founder of…

Duncan Campbell: One of the founders of wheelchair rugby.

((Laura Hale)) And you’re from Canada, eh?

Duncan Campbell: Yes, I’m from Canada, eh! (laughter)

((Laura Hale)) Winnipeg?

Duncan Campbell: Winnipeg, Manitoba.

((Laura Hale)) You cheer for — what’s that NHL team?

Duncan Campbell: I cheer for the Jets!

((Laura Hale)) What sort of Canadian are you?

Duncan Campbell: A Winnipeg Jets fan! (laughter)

((Laura Hale)) I don’t know anything about ice hockey. I’m a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

((Hawkeye7)) Twenty five years ago…

Duncan Campbell: Thirty five years ago!

((Laura Hale)) They said twenty five in the stadium…

Duncan Campbell: I know better.

((Hawkeye7)) So it was 1977.

((Laura Hale)) You look very young.

Duncan Campbell: Thank you. We won’t get into how old I am.

((Hawkeye7)) So how did you invent the sport?

Duncan Campbell: I’ve told this story so many times. It was a bit of a fluke in a way, but there were five of us. We were all quadriplegic, that were involved in sport, and at that time we had the Canadian games for the physically disabled. So we were all involved in sports like table tennis or racing or swimming. All individual sports. And the only team sport that was available at that time was basketball, wheelchair basketball. But as quadriplegics, with hand dysfunction, a bit of arm dysfunction, if we played, we rode the bench. We’d never get into the big games or anything like that. So we were actually going to lift weights one night, and the volunteer who helped us couldn’t make it. So we went down to the gym and we started throwing things around, and we tried a few things, and we had a volleyball. We kind of thought: “Oh! This is not bad. This is a lot of fun.” And we came up with the idea in a night. Within one night.

((Hawkeye7)) So all wheelchair rugby players are quadriplegics?

Duncan Campbell: Yes. All wheelchair rugby players have to have a disability of some kind in all four limbs.

((Laura Hale)) When did the classification system for wheelchair rugby kick in?

Duncan Campbell: It kicked in right away because there was already a classification system in place for wheelchair basketball. We knew basketball had a classification system, and we very consciously wanted to make that all people with disabilities who were quadriplegics got to play. So if you make a classification system where the people with the most disability are worth more on the floor, and you create a system where there are only so many points on the floor, then the people with more disability have to play. And what that does is create strategy. It creates a role.

((Hawkeye7)) Was that copied off wheelchair basketball?

Duncan Campbell: To some degree, yes.

((Laura Hale)) I assume you’re barracking for Canada. Have they had any classification issues? That made you

Duncan Campbell: You know, I’m not going to… I can’t get into that in a major way in that there’s always classification issues. And if you ask someone from basketball, there’s classification issues. If you ask someone from swimming… There’s always classification issues. The classifiers have the worst job in the world, because nobody’s ever satisfied with what they do. But they do the best they can. They’re smart. They know what they’re doing. If the system needs to change, the athletes will, in some way, encourage it to change.

((Laura Hale)) Do you think the countries that have better classifiers… as someone with an Australian perspective they’re really good at classification, and don’t get theirs overturned, whereas the Americans by comparison have had a number of classification challenges coming in to these games that they’ve lost. Do you think that having better classifiers makes a team better able to compete at an international level?

Duncan Campbell: What it does is ensures that you practice the right way. Because you know the exact classifications of your players then you’re going to lineups out there that are appropriate and fit the classification. If your classifications are wrong then you may train for six months with a lineup that becomes invalid when that classification. So you want to have good classifiers, and you want to have good classes.

((Laura Hale)) When you started in 1977, I’ve seen pictures of the early wheelchairs. I assume that you were playing in your day chair?

Duncan Campbell: Yes, all the time. And we had no modifications. And day chairs at that time were folding chairs. They were Earjays or Stainless. That’s all the brands there were. The biggest change in the game has been wheelchairs.

((Laura Hale)) When did you retire?

Duncan Campbell: I never retired. Still play. I play locally. I play in the club level all the time.

((Laura Hale)) When did you get your first rugby wheelchair?

Duncan Campbell: Jesus, that’s hard for me to even think about. A long time ago. I would say maybe twenty years ago.

((Laura Hale)) Were you involved in creating a special chair, as Canadians were pushing the boundaries and creating the sport?

Duncan Campbell: To a degree. I think everybody was. Because you wanted the chair that fit you. Because they are all super designed to an individual. Because it allows you to push better, allows you to turn better. Allows you to use your chair in better ways on the court. Like you’ve noticed that the defensive chairs are lower and longer. That’s because the people that are usually in a defensive chair have a higher disability, which means they have less balance. So they sit lower, which means they can use their arms better, and longer so they can put screens out and set ticks for those high point players who are carrying the ball. It’s very much strategic.

((Hawkeye7)) I’d noticed that in wheelchair basketball the low point player actually gets more court time…

Duncan Campbell: …because that allows the high point player to play. And its the same in this game. Although in this game there’s two ways to go. You can go a high-low lineup, which is potentially two high point players and two very low point players, which is what Australia does right now with Ryley Batt and the new kid Chris Bond. They have two high point players, and two 0.5 point players. It makes a very interesting scenario for, say, the US, who use four mid-point players. In that situation, all four players can carry the ball; in the Australian situation, usually only two of them can carry the ball.

((Laura Hale)) Because we know you are going soon, the all-important question: can Canada beat the Australians tonight?

Duncan Campbell: Of course they are. (laughter)

((Laura Hale)) Because Australians love to gamble, what’s your line on Canada?

Duncan Campbell: It’s not a big line! I’m not putting a big line on it! (laughter) I’d say it’s probably 6–5.

((Hawkeye7)) Is your colour commentary for the Canadian broadcast?

Duncan Campbell: That was for the IPC. I did the GB–US game this morning. I do the Sweden–Australia game tomorrow at two. And then I’m doing the US–France game on the last day.

((Laura Hale)) Are you happy with the level of coverage the Canadians are providing your sport?

Duncan Campbell: No.

((Laura Hale)) Thank you for an honest answer.

Duncan Campbell: Paralympic Sports TV is their own entity. They webcast, but they’re not a Canadian entity. Our Canadian television is doing… can I swear?

((Laura Hale)) Yeah! Go ahead!

Duncan Campbell: No! (laughter) They’re only putting on an hour a day. A highlight package, which to me is…

((Hawkeye7)) It’s better than the US.

Duncan Campbell: Yes, I’ve heard it’s better than the US. At the same time, it’s crap. You have here [in Great Britain], they’ve got it on 18 hours a day, and it’s got good viewership. When are we going to learn in North America that viewership is out there for it? How many times do we have to demonstrate it? We had the Paralympics in Vancouver two years ago, the Winter Paralympics, and we had crappy coverage there. There was an actual outburst demand to put the opening ceremonies on TV because they weren’t going to do it. And they had to do it, because everybody complained. So they did it, but they only did it in BC, in our home province, where they were holding it. The closing ceremonies they broadcast nationally because the demand was so high. But they still haven’t changed their attitudes.

((Laura Hale)) I have one last question: what did it mean for you when they had a Canadian flag bearer who was a wheelchair rugby player?

Duncan Campbell: I recruited that guy. It was fantastic. I recruited him. Found him playing hockey. And that guy has put in so much time and effort into the game. He absolutely deserves it. No better player.

((Laura Hale)) Thank you!

((Hawkeye7)) Thank you! Much appreciated.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

British bank Northern Rock has appointed the vice chairman of Barclays as its new chief executive. After 26 years at Barclays—the last two of which were as vice chairman—Gary Hoffman will replace Andy Kuipers. Kuipers, who has been with Northern Rock for 20 years, will be replaced at the beginning of October.

Last September, Northern Rock suffered the first run on a British bank in over 100 years, and was forced to become nationalised. Today, Hoffman stated he would return the bank to private ownership “as a thriving, stable business”. Some of his past roles include chairman of banking and chairman of Barclaycard. In his new role, he is expected to cut 2,000 of the 6,000 jobs provided by the company in an attempt to be able to pay back money owed to the Bank of England. He is to earn £700,000 per year, plus £400,000 in compensation from losses due to his moving. Including a bonus, he is expected to earn £1.5 million in his first year, making him Britain’s highest paid public servant. Among other tasks, he will be working to pay back the £25bn loan Northern Rock got from the Bank of England by 2010, and reducing its mortgage lending from £100bn to £50bn.

Northern Rock hit problems in September 2007. Issues in the mortgage market and public concern over the stability of the bank saw queues form with people keen to withdraw their funds following emergency support being provided by the Bank of England. With share prices plummeting as a result of issues in the United States sub-prime mortgage market, an unprecedented crisis struck one of the UK’s largest banks. By February 2008, the decision was taken to move the bank into public ownership and it was nationalised. Today’s appointment is the first step on a road to returning the bank to private ownership with significant measures required to cut the bank’s costs, repay loans from the Bank of England, and transform the institution into one which is attractive to the stock market.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

The ex-leader of New Zealand’s National Party, Dr Don Brash, has announced today that he has left his five year career in politics. Dr Brash had announced last week today that he was stepping down from leader of the National Party.

Dr. Brash was to stay on in politics as long as the new leader, John Key, gave him a senior portfolio and front bench position, where it was thought there would be no room for Dr Brash. However Dr Brash did not comment on whether he had sought that kind of position. The front bench positions and a possible portfolio reorganising will not be announced until tomorrow, Friday.

Over the past few days Dr Brash had been pondering his political career and he said that it is clear that he should leave politics after consulting with friends, colleagues and family including his wife, Je Lan. Dr Brash said: “I’ve come to the conclusion that now is the right time for me to leave Parliament and I informed John Key of that earlier today.”

At the press conference where he announced his intention to leave, few journalists were there compared to his resignation from leader conference.

Dr Brash will stay in Parliament until next year when he will not return. He said that he wanted to tie up loose knots.

Mr Key, last Thursday, said that he had only a few talks with Dr Brash, one on Tuesday and one this morning, but would not comment on Brash’s future. Dr Brash described those meetings as “constructive.”

When Dr Brash first entered politics in 2002 from being head of the Reserve Bank, he had wanted to make a difference and he said that he leaves with the belief that he had accomplished that. He also believes that National could take out the next election to be held in 2008 as it is in great shape. Dr Brash said: “I entered Parliament in 2002 with the intention of making a difference and I leave believing that I’ve done that. The National Party is in great shape to win the next election and I believe that debate about economic policy and about the Treaty is more mature and more realistic than it was five years ago.”

Dr Brash still claims that the book based around his leaked political emails by Nicky Hager, titled The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception, played no part in his decision to leave.

Next year Katrina Shanks, accountant, will enter politics again to fill in the empty seat made by Dr Brash, she is currently at number 46 on the list. She had been in politics last year but was forced out after the special votes were counted. Ms Shanks said that she feels positive about changing her career but she said that she would have preferred entering politics on election night and not because Dr Brash had left.

Dr Brash announced that he will look into becoming a director at a company but would not be a director at a state owned enterprise, “not with this Government.” He told TV3’s Campbell Live programme that he will now look after his kiwifruit orchard.

Dr Brash said his colleagues reaction was mixed, Dr Brash said some said: “you’ve done a fantastic job for the National Party. Your work on that has finished.”

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Several candidates have announced their intent to run in the special Flint, Michigan mayoral primary election scheduled for May 5, 2009. The primary election was called to fill the remainder of resigning Mayor Don Williamson‘s term ending in 2011. The two candidates with the most votes will face off in the August special general election. Each candidate will need to collect at least 900 signatures of registered Flint electors in twenty day to qualify for the May 5, 2009 ballot.

On the first day petitions were available, the City Clerk’s office handed out petitions in the morning to Aron Gerics, Dayne Walling, Sheldon Neeley and Brenda Clack. Gregory Eason, Waseem (Sam) Fakhoury, Theodore P. Jankowski, Eric Mays, Devona Watson and Darryl Buchanan picked up petitions later in the day. Stephanie Robb Martin, a Flint Board of Education Trustee was one of eight more potential candidates that pick up petitions since then.

Darryl Buchanan, former City Administrator and “Deputy Mayor”, announced he is the running for the office of Mayor on Tuesday February 17. Williamson just replaced Buchanan as City Administrator on February 4, keeping him from succeeding Williamson as Temporary Mayor upon his resignation. Buchanan served as the city ombudsman and councilor before becoming city administrator. He believes he has good relations with the city council and was critical of Williamson’s combative relations with the council.

Buchanan supporters believe that Buchanan has the experience for the position of mayor. While some residents and a political analyst, Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, believes that his role in Williamson’s administration and their friendship hurts his candidacy.

Sheldon Neeley, current city councilman for Ward 6, announced his candidacy. Neely stated he will open three offices last week. Already, Sheldon Neeley has returned his petitions Thursday with 1,100 signatures to the City Clerk’s office.

Dayne Walling, who narrowly lost to Don Williamson in the 2007 general election, previously announced that he was running if the recall election against Williamson was successful. On Thursday, Walling officially announced he was running at a “Working for Change” rally at the YMCA.

Genesee County Commissioner Brenda Clack served as Michigan 34th District State Representative from 2002 to 2008 switching positions with former Flint Mayor Woodrow Stanley.

Aron Gerics, a Mott Community College student and a Mott’s Workforce Development Program program assistant, intends to run for mayor. As a write-in candidate for the 2008 49th District House seat election, Gerics lost to Lee Gonzales, D-Flint Twp, the incumbent.

Gregory Eason is a former CEO for Jobs Central Inc. and a Williamson critic. Eric Mays is a political activist. Devona Watson is retiree and long time resident. Theodore P. Jankowski served in the Marines and produces a show for public access television.

City Administrator and Temporary Mayor Michael Brown stated that he will not run as he wants to focus on city business, and is slated to deliver the annual state-of-the-city address.

“He’s not just keeping the seat warm until someone else takes over,” Brown’s communications director Bob Campbell said. “There are some difficult decisions ahead, most notably in the area of the city’s finances. He’s all about the revival and renewal of the city of Flint.”

Additional public officials are considering entering the race including former County Commissioner Raynetta Speed and Councilman Scott Kincaid. State senator John Gleason D-Flushing is pondering a moving into the city to run.

On Tuesday, March 3, Darryl Buchanan, Brenda Clack and Gregory Eason all turned in their completed nominations to the city clerk’s office.

Monday, December 6, 2004

Former Houston Rockets star Calvin Murphy, accused of molestation by five of daughters, was found not guilty by the jury, putting an end to the eight-month long trial.

The alleged incidents took place more than ten years ago, when the daughters, who are now grown, ranged in age from 6 to 16. They accused Murphy of fondling them and performing oral sex on them. Murphy has 14 children by nine women.

Murphy’s attorney claimed that the women’s accusations were false and that they were bitter because he did not treat them the same as he treated the children born to his ex-wife. Murphy’s two daughters who were products of his previous marriage came to his defense.

The jury indicated that they found the women’s statements unreliable.The former basketball star’s lawyers said three of the five daughters had been trying to claim $52,408 in death benefits left in a teachers retirement account belonging to their mother, Phyllis Davidson. Murphy had a 20-year relationship and four children with Davidson, who died in a car accident in 1996.

This year, the three daughters continued their grandmother’s attempt to stop Murphy from receiving the benefits. He was listed as the account’s beneficiary, according to court records.

On Feb. 20, letters went to Murphy, his three daughters and their grandmother that Murphy was the account’s rightful beneficiary. The money was never paid.

A month later, Murphy was arrested and charged with sexual abuse and indecency.

Because of the nature of the accusations, Murphy lost his job with the Houston Rockets, where he was a TV commentator. Murphy has not commented about if he has plans to return to a broadcasting career.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Today is the 39th observance of Earth Day in the northern hemisphere. Earth day is celebrated in Autumn on November 30 in the southern hemisphere. Senator Gaylord Nelson initiated the first Earth Day in April 1970 in the United States, and it is now celebrated by over 1 billion people in over 170 countries worldwide. Earth Day is the biggest environmental event which addresses issues and educates people on environmental awareness on a global scale.

This year, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will beam high-definition images to the NASA website and television. By doing so, NASA hopes to increase appreciation of global climate issues. There will also be a Washington exhibit relating to environmental issues viewed from space as well.

At the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center activities will focus on their slogan for Earth Day 2009, “Just One Drop … PRICELESS” and will demonstrate how the Environmental Control Life Support System operates as used on the International Space Staton (ISS).

Amongst the many festivals, WorldFest is a solar powered music celebration held in Los Angeles, California. Buenos Aires will also feature its second Earth Day event featuring a music festival as well.

“We are in a new era of energy innovation,” said Daniel Yergin at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) forum. Lithium-ion batteries are providing electric storage solutions for electric cars such as the Chevrolet Volt and the Dodge Circuit EV. Algae fuel is a new form of biofuel, but is still under development.

“Energy Smackdown” was a competitive household activity which compared energy usage between 60 separate households across three cities in or near Boston. The various competitors came up with a variety of innovative methods to cut their carbon footprint, installing solar electric panels, geothermal heat pumps, wind turbines, and using a caulking gun to seal the home from drafts.

“In the average home, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.” is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) estimate.

Miami is installing a smart grid which will use individual household smart meters to allow energy consumers know via a web site, their exact home energy usage. “To me these are prudent and smart investments that will easily pay for themselves. It will show the nation how to address environmental, energy, and economic challenges all at the same time.” said Miami mayor Manny Diaz.

Cal Dooley, CEO of the American Chemistry Council ACC, says the plastic bag industry is prepared to spend US$50 million to revamp their manufacturing facilities and will collect 470 million pounds of recycled plastic every year to make plastic bags of 40% recycled content. The ACC is providing a donation to the Keep America Beautiful environmental organisation, both of whom endorse this new project. The Earth Day Network (EDN) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) would like to see an end to the use of plastic bags, however. “We don’t want people to use disposable bags. We want people to use reusable bags,” says Darby Hoover of the NRDC.

Calgary researchers will begin field surveys to help save the “Northern Leopard Frog (Rana Pipiens). “Northern Leopard Frogs are threatened in Alberta, but endangered in British Columbia,” said Dr. Des Smith, Primary Investigator and Research Scientist with the Calgary Zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research. “It is essential to develop new monitoring techniques for Northern Leopard” said Breana McKnight, Field Team Leader and Endangered Species Researcher.

The traditional Earth day ceremony of planting trees is garnering further attention in Japan as Koichi Nakatani, the nation’s Tree Planting Father travels from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

Students can take part in an Earth Day photo contest sponsored by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies which will feature images and scientific student research for the environmental change depicted in each photo submitted.

“Earth Day should be about teaching about the environment every day,” said Sean Mille director of education for EDN, “We emphasize taking action for your classroom, school, district or community.” 25,000 schools across America made use of the environmental curriculum developed by the National Civic Education Project, the Green Schools Campaign and the Educator’s Network. Lesson plans are broad and varied and may focus on water pollution, recycling, composting, using chemistry to convert cafeteria left-overs into biodiesel or ethanol fuel or converting go-carts to operate on biodiesel or ethanol fuels in shop class.

Friday, April 25, 2008

On Wednesday, long-time White House correspondent Helen Thomas questioned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino bluntly and repeatedly about United States President George W. Bush’s recent confirmation that he had approved CIA interrogation policies that included waterboarding.

“Where is everybody?” asked Thomas, apparently frustrated with lack of attention her colleagues had given the issue. The community at the social news site reddit answered “Here we are”; a message they plan to deliver along with several thousand dollars in flowers and other gifts.

Thomas’s questions became front-page news on reddit this morning, via a Think Progress blog post that includes a C-SPAN 2 video clip of Thomas during yesterday’s press briefing. Noting the president’s repeated assertion that the U.S. does not torture, Thomas characterized the authorized interrogation techniques as torture.

“Now he has admitted that he did sign off on torture, he did know about it,” said Thomas, “so how do you reconcile this credibility gap?”

Perino reiterated that the “United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror.”

Whether waterboarding, among other techniques, should be categorized as torture has been a subject of political contention in recent months. Thomas was unequivocal, responding to Perino: “That’s not my question. My question is, why did he say publicly ‘we do not torture’, when he really did know that we do?”

In appreciation of the reporter asking “A REAL QUESTION” (as the headline put it), reddit users (known as “redditors”) have collected over $3,000 for the purchase of flowers, edible arrangements and other gifts. Several ‘redditors’ also claimed to have ordered flowers for Thomas independently.

The bulk of the money was collected through Chipin.com, on a donation page created Micah Fitch, a musician and graphic designer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of publication, the site registered 400 contributors for a total of $3,125. Fitch also created a wiki, FlowersWiki, for organizing the gift purchases and selecting messages to go with them. A large delivery to the Washington D.C. offices of Thomas’s employer Hearst Newspapers is being scheduled for Friday morning.

One redditor claims that a friend who works for The Daily Show is pitching the story to the show’s staff.

This is not the first time Thomas has received a high-volume flower gift. In 2006, an e-mail campaign that began on the political website Democratic Underground collected over $2000 and resulted in delivery of 108 dozen roses.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Indonesian budget airline Adam Air has been given a three-week ultimatum by the authorities to prove its economic stability or its license will be revoked, said Transportation Minister Jusman Djamal. This is because major financial difficulties have become apparent today, with two major shareholders pulling out of the company.

PT Global Transport Service (GTS) and Bright Star Perkasa, who between them own a 50% stake in the company, have decided to sell back all their shares to their original owners, who control the other 50%. These are the family of founder Adam Suherman and Sandra Ang.

The companies invested in the airline last year, when the company was struggling after the New Year’s Day disappearance of Adam Air Flight 574 with 102 on board. The Boeing 737 (B737) was ultimately determined to have crashed into the sea near Sulawesi, and all on board are presumed dead. Shortly afterwards, Adam Air Flight 172, another B737, snapped in half during a hard landing, but held together preventing fatalities. These were not the first serious accidents for the company, as in February 2006 Flight 782 became lost for several hours after navigation systems failed and the plane entered a radar blackspot, forcing a subsequent emergency landing many miles from the intended route. The given reasons for the withdrawal are a lack of improvement in safety and financial irregularities.

The company has now also defaulted on debt payments to aircraft lease firms, resulting in 12 of their 22 planes being seized, and has cut the number of routes served from 52 to 12. The remaining ten planes are also in default and at risk of seizure. Adam Air owes leasing companies US$14 million compared to free capital of $4.8 million of free capital. They have agreed to buy back shares gradually for $11 million (100 billion rupiah), $6 million less than the investment firms paid for them. The cost difference will be borne by Harry Tanoesoedibyo’s family, the founder of PT Bhakti Investama, of which GTS is a wholly owned subsidiary. The companies have also lost 157 billion rupiah worth of investment in the company since the April 2007 deal. 9,325 Rupiah are currently worth US$1.

GTS director Gustiono Kustianto said that “Since we joined, our priority has been safety” but that Adam Air’s management had been unresponsive to pressure from the new investors to improve its poor record. Last weeek another company B737 shot off the runway during landing, damaging the plane and injuring five.

Lawyer Marx Andryan of Hotman Paris Hutapea, representing the investment firms, said they have documents proving the company has not adequatly seen to pilot recruitment, maintenance and insurance.

Suherman said “We have defaulted and the investors have done nothing about it. We’ll continue to operate as long as we have planes,” adding that there are no current plans to declare bankruptcy.

“Out of 22 planes, now we only have 10 because 12 of them have been declared in default. The other 10 have been declared in default as well, but I’m still trying to work out a way to restructure the payments,” he told Reuters. He went on to say that a cash injection is required, and that “There is a possibility starting on March 21 Adam Air will temporarily cease operations until there is a decision from the shareholders regarding the insurance premium.”